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^aZEMSBLS 

Trapping, Raising and Pre* 
paring Skins for Market 




Copyrighted I910 

by 
E, M. BARNUM 






©CI.A261693 



INTRODUCTION, 



Until the last few years the more valuable 
fur-bearers have been so numerous that very 
little attention has been paid to the w^easel. 
Except when one was found robbing the 
farmer's hen roost no one ever tried to trap 
them, and when the hard-working trapper 
found one in his mink or marten set it was 
promptly thrown to one side with a curse. 

Lately, prices of all furs have come up 
to such an extent that even the common 
animals have decreased greatly. The weasel 
alone seems to be holding his own, having 
but few enemies and plenty of food. The 
price offered for his pelt is now drawing 
more attention towards him. 

Having seen so many queries about 
their habits and the methods of capture in 
a certain magazine (H.-T.-T.),I thought 
that the following facts which I have gath- 
ered would interest many: 

E. M. B. 



CHAPTER I. 
THE WEASEL. 

This little animal is the smallest mem- 
ber of the Marten family, to which nearly 
all the smaller valuable fur-bearers of the 
United States and Canada belong. They 
have a strong odor peculiar to all the mem- 
bers of the same family. 

There is said to be about fifteen spe- 
cies of weasel, but there is very little differ- 
ence between them. Nearly all the weasels 
turn white when the winters are cold enough, 
although I am sure that there are a few that 
do not. I have taken weasels from my traps 
in the middle of winter and the fur for the 
most part was dark brown and showed no 
signs of turning, while six weeks before that 
all the weasels caught were prime and white. 

The change in color is due to the 
weather, as white weasels are not found 
where the winters are very mild. The fur 
does not bleach and become white, as some 
suppose, but is gradually shed after the white 
coat underneath is well started. A com- 
plete change of color may take place in 
about ten days. The original fur remains 
on the tip of the tail, which is always jet 
black, and the under side of the body, which 

2 



is white or light yellow always. Just before 
the brown fur is shed, the fur underneath 
has the appearance of the so-Called "cotton 
mink." Weasels vary greatly in size, even 
those in the same litter. I have caught 
them measuring from ten to twenty inches 
from tip to tip. As a rule the males are 
the largest. They are very thin and mus- 
cular and can go into any hole through 
which thev^ can get their head. They can 
also climb exceedingly well, being able to go 
almost anywhere a squirrel can. 

THE DEN. 

The weasel is not very particular about 

the den, and very often does not dig its own. 

I have found their dens in almost every 

place possible, such as old barns, haystacks, 

brush piles, gopher holes, and, once, in the 

skeleton of a horse. As a rule they have at 

least two or three entrances to the den, and 

so it, is hard to capture a full grown weasel 

by digging it out. This is not always the 

case, however, as on May 8. 1909, my dog 

found a den in the center of an open field. 

There was but one passageway leading to 

the nest,, which was but eighteen inches 

under ground-, and the dog dug the young 

weasels out very quickly. There were six 

of them, all packed tightly in the den. which 

was not lined in any way with grass or leaves, 



as is generally the case. They did not seem 
at all frightened and made no attempt to get 
away when I picked them up. 

The young are born about the first of 
March and are blind for about six. weeks. 
When two months old they are about two- 
thirds grown and as soon as they are able to 
hunt for themselves they leave the den and 
take up life in some other territory, as they 
seldom stay together. 

CHAPTER II. 

THE WEASEL IN CAPTIVITY. 

If they are captured before they have 
left their den, one will have little or no 
trouble in raising the weasel in confinement. 
A pen eight feet long by three feet wide and 
two feet high will be plenty large enough 
for a family of six weasels. They make no 
attempt to gnaw out, but will be apt to tun- 
nel out underground if not prevented. The 
meshes in the wire used in the enclosure 
should not be more than ^ of an inch in di- 
ameter, as the weasels can go through a very 
small hole. Their yard should be about six 
feet long by three wide. The nest box 
should be about a foot and a half each way 
and well ventilated, but dark, and in summer 
should be kept as cool and shady as possible. 
It is of great importance that the box is kept 

4 



dry. As to nesting material, wood excelsior 
is best, but if it is scarce or hard to get, hay 
or straw does very well. Very little mater- 
ial is required in summer, as the animals are 
very apt to sweat. However, in winter, 
plug up some of the ventilating holes and 
make the box as warm as you can. Weas- 
els are very cleanly and it is necessary to 
clean only one corner of their cage. Be 
sure that you keep drinking Water where 
they can get it for they drink a good deal. 

I never handle my animals very much 
and never without gloves, although they 
never have bitten me. If well treated and 
not frightened they soon become tame and 
will feed from the hand. 

FOOD. 

As regards feeding, I will say that while 
the animals, of course, prefer raw meat, they 
will eat almost anything given them and the 
following list will give some idea as to the 
variety of their diet. The list is given in 
about the order that they prefer them: 

Rabbits, mice, small birds, meat scraps, 
grasshoppers, sweet corn, eggs, muskrats 
frogs, small snakes, and anything on the order 
of beetles and butterflies. They should be 
fed only as much at a time as they will at 
once clean up. Meat should be cut up in 

5 



order that each one will get his share and to 
prevent them from fighting. 

Of course, they like best of all to kill 
their food and they have no trouble in doing 
so after they have tried It a few times. A 
weasel will soon get so that he can kill a 
large barn rat very quickly and without get- 
ting a scratch in return. 

The rat is always seized back of the 
neck and the more he throws the weasel 
around the more the weasel seems to like it. 
The victim is not released until all the blood 
is sucked from its body. While some people 
say that a weasel will break a large egg and 
suck it, none of my animals would do this 
unless the eggs were first cracked for them. 
After a large meal they will always curl up 
for a long sleep. 

CHAPTER III. 

TRAPPING. 

Unlike most animals that have been 
trapped much for their fur, the weasel is not 
a bit trap-shy. They will enter an uncov- 
ered trap as readily as a skunk or muskrat. 
Almost any good trap will do to catch him, 
but the three that I use altogether are the 
common steel jaw trap, the wire rat trap 
(when I want to capture one alive), and 

6 



lastly, the wooden rat trap that snaps and 
catches them by the head. 

I use the first kind mostly, because a 
skunk and even a mink very often happen 
along, and this trap will always hold them. 
Almost any good make will do, but I think 
that the Hawley & Morton is the best of 
the cheaper traps. The \% size nearly al- 
ways kills the weasel, as they have a wider 
spread of -jaw and catch them higher up. 
However, they are much more expensive 
than the No. 1 size, require more pressure to 
set them off and can not be set in as small a 
hole. Even with the No- 1 size the animal 
is nearly always killed and is always caught 
so high up that it can not escape. Before 
setting steel traps for white weasels be sure 
that the inner jaws are free from rust. It 
would do all right to wrap them with strips 
of paper or cloth. If the jaws are rusty they 
will leave rust marks where they hit, which 
it is almost impossible to remove. 

In setting traps they should he set as 
lightly as possible, as a weasel is not very 
heavy. Weasels travel almost as much in 
the day time as they do at night. They 
nearly always return to the den which they 
left to sleep. In a night's wandering they 
will sometimes travel a distance of three or 
four miles, usually in a circle. They are 

7 



very keen scented and they will often stop 
short on the trail and go a number of feet to 
one side to dig up a mole or a mouse which 
they had scented. Anyone can very easily 
distinguish their tracks when they can be 
plainly seen. When he i ravels at his usual 
gait the weasel takes leaps about three feet 
long, leaving two little marks about two 
inches apart. The claw marks do not show, 
as the feet are very furry. In running the 
front feet move quite independently of the 
hind feet, which hop. In the winter when 
the swamps are frozen over, weasels travel 
over them hunting for the mice that live in 
the thick grass. When a swamp of this 
kind is handy it is a sure place to set a trap. 

If one of their runways can be found, a 
steel trap should be set and a branch or some 
other obstruction placed so that the weasel 
will jump in the trap and not over it as he 
might otherwise do. Bait need not be used 
here unless the weasels have not been trav- 
eling the runway much. If you wish to be 
more certain of a catch a mouse or rabbit 
would be fine for bait. If no suitable run- 
way or hole can be found to set the trap in 
make a pen with flat stones or boards just 
large enough for a trap, and bait. Have 
one end open and have the top high enough 
to let the trap work freely- In this set 

8 



either a s::eel trap, or a snap trap may be 
used. All traps where bait is used should 
be taken care of often, as the meat is eaten 
in a few days by field mice.. 

After the set is complete it may be con- 
cealed by throwing over it some dead grass 
or a piece of brushwood- While, as before 
mentioned, the weasel is not afraid of an 
uncovered trap, and there are signs of mink 
or skunk around conceal the trap as well hs 
possible and the chances are good for land- 
ing one of them. For this reason a steel 
trap ought to be used around such places 
and it should not be smaller than a number 
one size. Weasels run through every hol- 
low log along their trail and the trapper 
should never pass such a place without set- 
ting a trap. Put a trap at each end and 
stake them to the log. Throw a piece of 
bait into the log and the set is complete. 

In trapping for weasels I never set a 
trap under water, nor where it is apt to be 
flooded, as the weasel never enters the water 
if he can help it. All traps should be staked 
solidly. Whenever able to do so place the 
enclosures where they will not drift over 
with snow, and with the open side to the 
south. When a trap is set at a hole that 
goes straight into the ground, bank up 
around the sides of the trap, so that the ani- 

9 



mal, in going in and out of the hole, will be 
forced to pass over the trap. In this part of 
the country (Illinois) most of the holes are 
of this kind, so I use this set more often 
than any. In order to make a trail that the 
weasels can follow to the traps, most trap- 
pers usually drag a piece of rabbit or some 
such bait by a piece of string to where the 
trap is set. The traps are set about one 
hundred and fifty yards apart and when the 
animal strikes this trail he follows it to the 
nearest trap and the rest is easy. 

The weasel may always be found around 
plowed fields where it lives off the mice and 
birds found there. They may easily be 
caught with just a few traps by making a 
trail around the field and putting down a 
couple of traps. Weasels like to run along 
in ditches by the roadside. In places of this 
kind bait pens are very good. If the road is 
frequentl\^ traveled set the trap in a place 
where people in passing by are not liable to 
see or hear the weasel when it is in the trap. 
It is not necessary to put the trap in the 
ditch for the animal can smell the bait easily 
if it is placed twenty or thirty feet to one 
side. 

Where meat bait is used do not fail to 
put it ill the back part of the pen where it 
can't be seen, or else cover it over with 

10 



grass or something, otherwise the crows or 
jays will take it and muss up the set, as. they 
did. with mine until I concealed the bait. 
When I set a trap where I have seen the 
tracks of a weasel I never pull the trap up 
for at least ten days or two wrecks, as they 
very seldom travel the same route two days 
in succession. I have found, hollow logs, 
tiles, stone fences and ditches that were 
traveled every night although there were 
more than one weasel using them. 

They may be takqn alive with either 
one of the various .kinds of box traps or the 
common wire rat trap. When I use the 
wire trap I cover it completely with small 
sticks an inch and a half or two inches in 
diameter, leaving only the opening of the 
trap showing and the set has much the ap- 
pearance of a pile of wood. The weight 
that is used to balance the door on these 
traps is sometimes so heavy that a small 
weasel cannot spring the door and it is neces- 
sary to replace the weight with a lighter one. 

The box trap is fully as good as the 
,wnre one in every way, but it takes quite a 
little time to make one that will work prop- 
erly. It is best to make traps out of weath- 
ered boards as they will not show^ up so 
plainly. A box fourteen inches long and six 
inches square is plenty large enough. Have 

; ;' 11 



a sliding door and the trigger should be in 
the back of the box. It is very important that 
there are air holes in a box trap, otherwise 
the animal would soon smother. The wea- 
sel is not very apt to gnaw out of a carefully 
made trap, but if the trap is not looked after 
within a day after he is caught he might 
harm himself. 

Weasels are very easily poisoned when 
they will eat bait, but they always travel 
quite a distance before they die, and other 
animals than the ones it is intended for are 
so liable to get the poison that this method 
of taking them is very seldom used. When 
one has been found killing chickens and it is 
not the fur that is wanted, it may be pois- 
oned by chopping meat into small pieces 
and poisoning it with a very small quantity 
of arsenic, cyanide of potash or other poison 
and placing the meat under a shed or in 
a hole so the dog or chickens cannot reach 
it. It very often happens thdt where the 
winters are mild and there seems to be a 
number of weasels around, judging from the 
tracks, they are hard to catch and will not 
take bait. This is due to the fact that they 
are getting as much food as they need and 
they refuse fo be attracted by dead bait; or, 
if they do so it is just out of curiosity and 
not for the want of a meal. When this is 

12 '^v; 



the case it is best to try some kind of scent. 
There is quite a number of these scents on 
the market but very few of them are of any 
account. The three that I have used with 
the most success are fish oil, which may be 
m-ide at home, oil of anise, which can be 
bought at any drug store, and a scent put 
up by Funsten Bros. & Co., St. Louis, Mo, 
The first two that I mentioned are the 
cheapest and work very well, but I have had 
much better success with that made by the 
Funstens and shall continue to use it. The 
traps are set in exactly the same way when 
using scent that they are when trapping 
with bait. To use the scent- a few drops c?n 
be put on a piece of rabbit skin or a twig 
dipped in it can be put where the weasel 
will have to cross the trap to get to it. 
This bait will require renewing every week 
or so, especially in cold weather. 

During the winter months the weasels 
run about nearly every night and in a heavy 
blizzard or snow storm they are sure to be 
out as they are not bothered by the cold. 
They do not travel about as much in thawing 
or rainy weather. 

When setting traps they should always 
be placed where there is no chance of the 
animal jumping over them. When the 
weasel is going at his usual ga t he touches 

13 



the ground in such few places compared to 
most animals, that it would be very easy for 
him to miss a single trap set in his runway, 
whether he knew it was there or not. This 
is one of the reasons why a trap set in a 
small hollow log or a hole is more successful 
than one put down most any place in a run- 
way, unless it is set so that the weasel will 
have to run into it. This may be done by 
placing twigs or pranches in such a way that 
the weasel will light in the trap in jumping 
over them. 

CHAPTER IV. 

PREPARING THE SKINS, 

Very often a weasel will become very 
badly soiled from struggling in a trap and it 
requires a good deal of cleaning .before the 
skin is removed. This is easily done by 
washing the animal in warm water, using a 
little soap. The water should not be hot, 
as it tends to loosen the fur, causing it so 

shed. Washing the fur in the above man- 
ner does not harm it in any way, but greatly 
improves its appearance, which, of course, 
adds to the value of the pelt. After wash- 
ing the animal let it dry perfectly before 
commencing to skin it. 

First cut off all four feet about half 
way up to the body. Starting with the hind 

14 



legs run a sharp knife under the skin on the 
back side of the legs, continuing the cuts 
until they meet at the base of the taik The 
next and for some the most difficult step, is 
to remove the tail bone. To do this it is 
sometimes necessary to split the tail an inch 
and a half or so on the under side. If this 
is done carefully there is no danger of pull- 
ing the fur off. After the bone is removed 
commence skinning the body, using the 
knife v^^hen needed, but being careful not to 
cut the fur. The skin should be turned in- 
side out and pulled toward the head as fast 
as it is loosened, so that the fur side will not 
get soiled by coming in contact with the 
flesh. The only other place where there is 
liable to be any trouble is the head, around 
the ears and eyes. 

The knife will have to be used here. 
When the ears and eyes show under the skin 
cut them as close to the head as possible. 

Weasels skinned in this way will not be 
cut open on the under side, and it will re- 
duce the value of the skin if it is cut open. 
There is not much fat on a weasel and if it 
Is carefully skinned there will not be any on 
the skin after it is removed. If there is any 
it may be removed by scraping the skin with 
a dull knife after it is stretched. I stretch 
my furs by pulling them over small thin 

15 



boards with the fur side next to the wood. 
The stretchers taper enough to conform 
with the shape of the skin, so that it can be 
stretched uniformly. My large boards are 
2% inches at the shoulder and 3 inches at 
the base. The medium size are 2 inches at 
the shoulder and 2>4 inches at the base, and 
the small ones are 1 3-4 inches at the shoulder 
and 2%. inches at the base. 

The edges are rounded to prevent the 
fur from tearing when pulling it from the 
board. 1 he fur may be taken off the 
stretcher after it has been on two days. No 

salt of any kind is needed to preserve the 
skins if they are trapped in the winter, and 
the fur dealers do not like to buy salted 
pelts. 

There seems to be no especially good way 
to remove the yellow stain found on the 
under side of so many weasels and it still 
shows after the furs are made up. 

The better quality of white fur has 
been quoted during the last few years at 
from 2S cents to 75 cents; short or stained 
skins less. 

Most of the fur houses will not pay 
anything for the brown weasels, and those 
that do buy them never pay more than five 
or ten cents. 

I will he glad to explain anything about 
weasels not made clear in this book, if when 
writing you will enclose a stamp for reply. 

\i M. Barnum, 

LaGrange, 111. 
16 



4 1910 



: 77-102 
52 



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